


Build This Love (From the Ground Up)

by SecretEnigma



Series: Lunoct Week [3]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Don't copy to another site, F/M, Happy Ending, Literal Sleeping Together, Lunoct Week, Lunoct Week 2020, Morning Cuddles, Romantic Fluff, Self-Indulgent, Sleepy Cuddles, Slow Dancing, So Utterly Self-Indulgent, They Deserve a Happy Ending Okay?, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, happy all the way through
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-23
Updated: 2020-09-23
Packaged: 2021-03-08 00:54:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,141
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26617027
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SecretEnigma/pseuds/SecretEnigma
Summary: For Lunoct Week 2020. Prompt used: Lazy MorningsThe war is over, the Long Night and the Starscourge are gone, and through great perseverance and a little luck, the dawn has been restored without the sacrifice of the Chosen King's or the Oracle's life. But even happily ever afters are busy, complicated affairs, especially for a king and his queen.Sometimes however, it doesn't have to be.Sometimes, even the heads of state can have a lazy morning.
Relationships: Lunafreya Nox Fleuret/Noctis Lucis Caelum
Series: Lunoct Week [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1934224
Comments: 5
Kudos: 54
Collections: Lunoct Week 2020





	Build This Love (From the Ground Up)

**Author's Note:**

> This is way shorter than my usual one-shot length, but there are no words for how self-indulgent this is. I saw the prompt "Lazy Mornings" and thought to myself "how much fluff can I cram into this before it becomes stupid or a lethal dose?" and this was my result. I'm sure it's not nearly as fluffy as other people will manage with this prompt, or in general, but for someone who usually has to inject a large dose of angst into any fic I write, I'm pretty pleased with this one.

Light filtered through the curtains, finally bright enough to poke through Luna’s slumber, and she stretched her legs beneath the blankets as she came awake. A blink and half-hearted glance toward the curtained window proved that she had slept far past her usual awakening time, but she couldn’t bring herself to care. It was very rare that her body, trained from years of habit, let her stay asleep this long, and she was not going to begrudge the rare occurrence.

She started to shift and the arm draped over her upper back and shoulders twitched sluggishly, then tightened, keeping her firmly pinned where she was, half-draped over her husband’s chest, her head tucked beneath his chin. Luna relaxed back into the hold, content to stay in place for now. On the nights his nightmares did not come to haunt, she was usually awake before he was, but she rarely let herself just- stay there in his arms. Her habits of getting up and starting her preparations for the day were too ingrained to easily shake. This time however, she stayed where she was, listening to the steady thud of the heartbeat beneath her ear, the rise and fall of his breathing.

Noctis looked much younger when he was asleep. Almost like he was in his early twenties again, four years younger than her rather than six years aged past while she had been locked away in the Draconian’s hidden realm, catatonic and as unresponsive as a dead thing until he had seen fit to send her back to Eos. Unconsciously, her fingers tightened over Noctis’s ribcage, seeking touch, the grounding feel of heat and life and ocean-deep magic that swirled sluggishly with dreams. _I am right here,_ she reminded herself, _I am alive. We are both alive. All is well. I am with my husband, on a lovely morning, during a holiday where even the king and his queen can take the day off. All is well._

_I am safe._

Under her ear, Noctis grunted, still asleep but reacting to her brief distress, head shifting to nuzzle her hair, the arm draped over her shoulders twitching to convulsively grab her shoulder before relaxing again. Luna breathed deep and calmed herself. There was no need to wake him up yet. Everything was fine. This was a rare lazy morning, she was not going to waste it by getting upset over things of the past. Relaxing her grip on his ribs, she slid her hand carefully up along his bare torso, gently tracing the scars she no longer needed to see to find. She had memorized them all already, was able to find them even in the dark of night if she wanted. Her fingers skimmed over each one, the round and oval smooth patches were bullets had passed through, the longer, rippled lines of animal claws, the raised ridges made by blades of different shapes and sizes. A story of hardship, and endurance, and **victory** , because his scars moved up and down beneath her hand with each breath, and there would never be a morning she didn’t take a moment to marvel over that. Over their both being alive and whole and **safe**.

The biggest scar rested right under her cheek, a too close call with a Yojimbo’s blade back before Altissia that had needed a phoenix down to heal, he had told her.

She stopped tracing scars and just let her palm rest on his stomach, feeling the rise and fall of his breathing there. The movement was soothing, a steady background to the thump of the heartbeat under her ear and Luna … Luna…

Jolted awake to much brighter sunlight and the low rumble of Noctis’s chuckle as he stretched beneath her, back arching against the stiffening of his scars, the bridge of his nose rubbing the top of her hair affectionately. He sensed her waking up in the twitch of her fingers on his torso and the hitch of her breath against his collarbone and kissed the top of her head, “Now this is a surprise.” He rasped, voice faintly hoarse from a night of silence, “I thought you’d be up already.”

Luna hummed, shifted her chin carefully to press a kiss against one of the scars on his collarbone, “I was, but then I fell asleep again.”

“Falling asleep again,” Noctis all but **purred** like the great, lazy cat Ignis joked he secretly was, “now that sounds like a great idea.”

“It must be close to nine or later already. Falling asleep again now would be a little **too** lazy, even for you, My Love. Ignis would think we had both fallen ill.” She said primly, but both of them were aware of how she shifted to lie more firmly on top of him, her legs twining around one of his and her hand sliding off his stomach and back down across his ribs in a way that made him jolt and shiver —a ticklish husband, now there was a novelty she had never thought she would have, it had been a very amusing surprise early on in their marriage—.

She finally raised her head and found him looking at her in loving amusement as he said, “Methinks if you **meant** that, you wouldn’t still be here.” The arm on her upper back slid lower, slotting into place in the small of her back, pinning her in place-.

Pulling her down and under as he rolled over to cage her in with his free arm. Luna huffed at him and he just grinned, slow and pleased. He leaned down to gently kiss her. First a long, lingering one on her lips, then quicker peck to the pulse point on her neck, then he carefully rolled over again, letting go of her to slide off the edge of the bed. Luna propped herself up on her elbows as Noctis slowly began working the stiffness out of his limbs and back, the childhood scars from the Marilith that stretched up past the hem of his sleep pants needing the most work to loosen their hold on his mobility. As much as Noctis would have loved to stay in bed for hours more, they both knew he **did** have to stir, or else be achingly stiff all day. While Noctis finished his stretches, Luna slid out of bed from the other side and went to take her shower.

They brushed hands as she came out again, switching turns and places as easily as breathing, and the sound of hot water didn’t stop until well after Luna had picked out something to wear, put it on, and slipped out of the bedroom to the suite kitchenette to see to breakfast.

She was in the process of adding ingredients to the omelets when she sensed his approach, a warning press of _love-adoration-approach_ to let her know who was coming up behind her several seconds before his arms hugged her loosely around her waist. He pressed a kiss to the back of her neck, “Not going to call Iggy? Or the servants?”

Luna scoffed, but there was no heat in it, “Ignis deserves a holiday too, and it will be a sad day indeed when I must rely on servants to make a simple omelet.” Her mother had been far too busy to worry about such things as teaching her children to cook, but one of Luna’s more elderly handmaids, Maria, had not. Some of Luna’s fondest childhood memories were learning to cook simple dishes under Maria’s guidance. Noctis hummed an agreement and made no move to stop hugging her as she cooked, just followed her movements while pressed against her back, always keeping his grip just loose enough that she wasn’t actually hindered.

Somewhere in the middle of it all, their little joint shuffle became a game, Noctis swaying her back and forth while she tried to stay steady, and somewhere in the middle of that, it turned into slow dance across the floor with him still at her back. The omelets had to be rescued eventually, and Noctis finally let her go with a laugh after she threatened him with her spatula —they both knew she wasn’t serious, if she had been serious, she would have threatened to tell Ignis about the unforgivable waste of food that would come from dallying too much longer—.

Noctis’s phone rang during their breakfast, and the two of them chatted with Prompto over their meal. Noctis’s friend was outside the city at the moment, busy checking on the more remote outposts and taking pictures of the world to compare with how it used to be before the Long Night. It kept him very busy and away from Insomnia for long stretches, but Prompto seemed to enjoy it, and Noctis’s eyes always lit up hearing his friend’s stories of his travels with Iris and Talcott. Prompto promised to come home soon before hanging up, and the silence settled comfortably after that for a while as they cleaned their breakfast dishes and then wandered out of the kitchenette to the living room.

Without a word to each other, they drifted through the living room to the balcony overlooking the city. Noctis leaned his elbows on the railing, looking out over their home with a sigh that was both content and melancholy. Luna settled by his side, one hand resting on his back between his shoulders. For a long time they didn’t speak, just watched.

Insomnia had come a very long way since the end of the Long Night. Sometimes she would look out over the skyline and listen to the sounds of life far below and find it hard to imagine it had only been six years since then. Six years and the city was already habitable again, already drawing a population, powered with electricity and water, with two fully functional hospitals, multiple smaller clinics, and roads leading in and out of the city. But then she would blink again and see all the ways it was different from the city she had seen before the Invasion and subconsciously count all the ways it was different.

The skyline was much, much shorter now. The Citadel was the last real skyscraper, the only one to have truly survived the Invasion and the Long Night that followed. The others had either collapsed, or fallen, or were in the process of being demolished for safety. Most buildings were no more than twenty stories now and those were just the ones that could be salvaged. The newly built ones were closer to twelve at most. The livable areas of Insomnia were smaller as well. Most of the city was still rubble and abandoned buildings really, with just the central blocks around the Citadel, the city outskirts, and those blocks right next to or just off the main roads being clear and inhabited. The roads that could be cleared had been, but others still needed to be repaired or rebuilt entirely, the two hospitals were just two of a previous one hundred and five. The population living in Insomnia now was maybe a seventh of what it had been before.

Magic pressed up underneath her hand, drawing her out of her musing. A glance at her husband revealed he was still watching the city, but his attention was on her, a gentle brush of _concern-love-focus_. A silent question of if she was alright or if something was bothering her. Luna huffed at her own thoughts. Today was a holiday, one without ceremonies and parties and duties to see to until evening. She should not be focusing on those things. She leaned over and touched a kiss to his temple, “Sorry, Noct. I am afraid I still forget how to have time to myself without thinking of my duties.”

Noctis shifted his position, leaning his hip against the railing and offering a hand. She slid her hand off his back and accepted the offered hand, holding it tight as she let herself lean on the railing a bit. Noctis considered his words carefully, “We’ve come a long way.”

She tilted her head, “We have. But we still have a long way to go. It feels…”

“Overwhelming sometimes.” He finished for her, magic curling around her in understanding. He looked away from the city to offer her one of his small, almost shy smiles, “I don’t really mind it though. Rebuilding it from the ground up. Taking a long time.”

Luna raised an eyebrow at him, because she knew her husband well enough to know a leading statement when she heard one, “Oh? Why not?”

His fingers squeezed hers and there was a gentle sort of honesty there that never failed to take her breath away, “Because everything I’m rebuilding, everything I’m doing and will do for years to come … I’m doing it all with you.”


End file.
